


Alone On A Dock

by drunkbedelia



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Drama on a boat, Established Chad/Ryan, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Ten Years Later, boats!, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-14 00:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11772057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkbedelia/pseuds/drunkbedelia
Summary: When Chad arrives at Sharpay and Zeke's engagement party late and upset, Ryan tries to comfort his boyfriend and find out what happened.Set eight years after graduation, with cameos from the most of the gang.





	Alone On A Dock

Ryan knocked back the rest of his martini, checking his watch for the eighteenth time. Chad was late. Teetering between concern and irritation, Ryan typed out another text to his boyfriend, and then deleted it. He put his phone back in his breast pocket and tried to refocus his energy on the conversation going on around him.

“I think she’s much more like her mother,” Gabriella said, taking Troy’s arm in hers.

“Already doing calculus?” Kelsi asked.

“Tell me you haven’t started with the flashcards,” Jason said.

“Every night,” said Troy, sending a ripple of laughs around the circle.

Gabriella hit his hand. “At least I’m not making her throw beanbags into paper cups.”

“She can already do a crossover dribble,” Troy said. “I have video.”

As the crowd gathered around to coo at Troy and Gabriella’s toddler, Ryan excused himself and headed for the bar. There was only so much of the Bolton-Montez flavor of Norman Rockwell he could take sober. He checked his phone again; no text from Chad. 

Ryan sipped his gin martini and surveyed the crowd. All immaculately dressed in tuxes and sparkly gowns, a quick glance revealed little about the makeup of the engagement party attendees. Looking closer, however, there was a clear division between the guests of groom and bride: Zeke’s were a mix of people from high school, college, and work, as well as his parents, all catching up with smiles and laughter on one side of the boat. The other half, significantly older, whiter, and looking like they had a collective stick up their ass, was Sharpay’s guest list. It consisted primarily of the Evans clan, cousins and aunts and grandparents looking like they just walked off the Mayflower, plus a few of her college friends drinking heavily.

Ryan spotted Sharpay and Zeke on the far side of the boat, smiling politely as one of the New England cousins monologued at them. The Evans party line on Sharpay and Zeke’s impending union was reserved acceptance, always given with a veiled question about Zeke’s “suitability” for joining the family. They would then turn, as the cousin did now, to look at Ryan, a clear hope that he might still marry a nice girl from a country club dancing in their eyes. They would all be sorely disappointed.

Kelsi appeared at Ryan’s side, leaning over the bar to order a vodka tonic. “If I see one more photo of that baby, I’m gonna jump overboard,” she said, taking a swig.

“This boat is nailed to the dock, lucky for you,” said Ryan. “And Chad.” He pulled out his phone and, seeing no messages, sent a quick text: _Where are you?_

“Still at the office?” 

“Don’t remind me,” Ryan sighed. “Though if he and my father are any later, my mom will have an aneurism. She’s already postponed the speeches.”

“I do get the sense that the Evans on the whole are… Tightly wound.”

Ryan laughed. “That’s one way to put it. Did I hear my grandma asking you if you’re a ‘modern woman’?”

“Yeah, I don’t think your family’s ever seen a lesbian before,” Kelsi said, gesturing to her tailored blue suit. “This really threw them off. Though I was getting some definite sapphic vibes from your Great Aunt Mildred.”

Ryan groaned. “Please, I don’t need that mental image.”

“I’m just saying, that fondue station? Minefield of double entendres.”

The cousin had at last left the fiancées for a refill on her cheese plate. Ryan watched as Zeke whispered something to Sharpay, and she laughed, pulling him close.

“They look happy,” Kelsi said, also watching the couple. “At least, when they’re not talking to your family.”

“I warned Sharpay, if you’re gonna do a New York wedding, you’re gonna have to endure the entire family tree passing judgement. I suggested elopement, but no go.”

“If you and Chad elope, you have to swear to invite me,” said Kelsi.

“You’ll be our minister.”

“Maybe it’s just residual nausea from listening to the wonder couple over there, but I have to ask. Should I be getting ordained any time soon?"

Ryan took a sip of his drink. “No rush. This year was tough for him, with the injury and all, but we’re in a good place.” Checking his phone again, he said, “Actually, I should probably find out where he is.”

Kelsi nodded. “I’m going to determine if any of Sharpay’s sorority sisters ‘experimented’ in college,” she said, wriggling her eyebrows. She knocked back the rest of her drink and sauntered towards the group of blondes drinking cosmos on the dance floor.

Ryan held his phone to his ear, listening to the dull ring. Just as it went to voicemail, he saw Chad near the entrance of the boat, looking lost. Ryan ran over to him.

“Finally! Where were – are you alright?” Ryan asked. Chad had not changed from work, wearing a crumpled button-up shirt and jeans. His eyes, unfocused, danced around the crowd.

“Can we go?” Chad asked.

Ryan saw a few of the guests giving Chad odd looks. He took him by the arm, leading him to a quieter corner of the boat near the restrooms. “What’s going on?”

Chad shuffled from foot to foot. “Can we go? I mean go, get off this boat, leave the party. I can’t deal with this party right now…” Chad ran his hand through his hair. Before Ryan could respond, Chad said, “No, I know you can’t go, it’s Sharpays engagement! God, I’m so stupid–“

Ryan pulled Chad close, wrapping him in a tight hug. He gave him a light kiss on his forehead. “Let’s go,” he said, and led Chad by the hand down the ramp and onto the marina. The two walked in silence along the dock, farther and farther until the party boat became a fuzzy circle of light in the distance. Ryan clutched Chad’s hand, pressing his fingers into his boyfriend’s soft palm.

“What happened, Chad,” Ryan said, looking at his boyfriend’s face reflected in the moonlight. His eyes had an empty, vacant look that scared him.

“Nothing,” Chad said, after a moment.

“Nothing,” Ryan said. He stopped, making Chad look turn to face him. “Babe, I have every possible horrifying scenario running through my mind right now.”

Chad shook his head. “God, I’ve made it all so dramatic. I’m just being stupid, it’s nothing.” His voice caught on the last word.

“Chad, please, tell me,” Ryan said, his own voice now dangerously close to tears.

Chad buried his face in Ryan’s shoulder. Ryan held him, rubbing his back.

After a while, Chad looked up at Ryan with wet eyes, and then away at the water. “Can we sit?”

The two made their way to a bench and stared out at the boats, bobbing gently against the dark sky. It was silent. 

Chad took a breath, and said, “Okay. I was at work today, and just as I was leaving Vance asked–“

“I knew it!” Ryan cried. “What did he do? I knew that job was a bad idea. God, my father is the biggest jackass.”

Chad sighed. “Please, Ry, just let me tell the whole thing.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Ryan said. “I won’t interrupt.”

“He asked me to his office, and immediately I can see he’s been drinking. He offers me a whiskey, and I take it, because, well, he’s never been that nice to me before. I mean, he was nice in giving me this job, but since then we haven’t really talked.”

Ryan nodded, looking intently at Chad. Chad fumbled with his shirt sleeve, buttoning and unbuttoning the cuff.

“But today he was really chatty, so I sit down, take some whiskey. He tells me I’m doing great, much better than he expected.”

Ryan snorted. Chad’s eyes remain on the water. “He just keeps talking. He starts on Sharpay and Zeke’s engagement, about how he wishes it was a better match for the family, but ‘there’s always Ryan.’ And then he laughs, like an evil cackle, and says – well, says some other horrible stuff that I’m sure you’ve heard before.”

“I’m so sorry," Ryan said, taking Chad’s hand. “Honestly, if you want to quit and find another gig, I’ll help you. We’ll never have to talk to my father again.”

“That’s the thing,” Chad said, biting his lip. “I don’t think I have a job anymore.”

“There’s more?” 

Chad nodded. “So he’s been talking for almost an hour by now, and I want to leave. But as I’m trying to go, he gets up and blocks the door. Says he’s not surprised I can’t handle my liquor like a man. And I was so sick of it, having to grovel to this asshole because I’m supposed to be grateful that he gave me a job, and thinking maybe if I do well enough he’ll actually accept me. And you.”

Ryan rubbed Chad’s hand. “Babe, that’s not on you.”

Chad nodded. “I know. It was stupid. And then, after all that, he tells me… He says something else. And… I punched him.”

Ryan stared. “You punched him?

“In the face. I was so mad, I couldn’t help it!”

Ryan grabbed Chad by the waist and kissed him, passionately. Chad pulled away. “Did you not hear me? I punched your father!”

“You just fulfilled every fantasy of my teenage self,” Ryan said. “You are the best boyfriend ever.”

Chad frowned, shaking his head. “It doesn’t feel that way. I’ve never hit anyone before, and he was so mad. I mean, he deserved it, after what he said, but–”

“What did he say? Before you punched him.”

Chad glanced down at his feet. “It was horrible.”

“I’ve heard it all before, trust me.”

Chad squeezed Ryan’s hand. ‘If you marry my son, he’s out of the family. Evans men bleed red, not pink.”

Ryan laughed, a single loud bark. “And he says I’m dramatic!”

Chad stared. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

“It’s not a big surprise. He’s never exactly hidden his feelings.”

Chad put his arm around Ryan’s waist, kissing him on the cheek. After a moment, he dropped his head, letting out a slow sigh. 

“I’ve ruined everything! You don’t know how angry he was. He’ll blacklist me from every company. I won’t be able to be in the same room with anyone in your family, and – What if he presses charges? I’ll have a criminal record!”

Ryan stroked Chad’s hair. “Shh, hey. Don’t worry. I expect he’ll be too embarrassed that he got beat up by a gay man to tell anyone.”

“Seriously?”

“Evans blood runs shallow, my dear,” Ryan said. "And you’ll find another job, easy. You’re Chad fucking Danforth, for Christ’s sake!”

Chad chuckled, leaning on Ryan. He kissed him gently on the lips. “Thank you.” He reached up and adjusted Ryan's bow tie. "Did I tell you that you're looking especially handsome tonight?" 

"As a matter of fact, you didn't."

“Do you want to go back to the party?" Chad asked.

“I don’t think we should risk you punching out my grandma. She’s frail as it is.”

Chad groaned and nestled his head against Ryan’s neck. “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

Ryan laughed, a warm, dancing sound that traveled onto the waves. There they sat, letting the night wash everything away until all that was left was each other, alone on a dock.

**Author's Note:**

> The premise of this is very loosely based off of a season 5 episode of Gilmore Girls, only Ryan and Chad talk about their problems like adult humans instead of stealing a yacht.


End file.
